This invention relates to vaginal specula.
Vaginal specula are used to enlarge the passage through the vagina for gynaecological examination, sampling or treatment. The specula usually comprise two angled arms pivoted with one another to form jaws at one end and handles at the other end. The jaws can be separated by squeezing together the handles. The speculum often has some means by which the two jaws can be held in their separated state, so that the handles can be released once the passage has been enlarged sufficiently. One way of achieving this is by means of a ratchet arrangement, as in the speculum sold by SIMS Portex Limited of Hythe, Kent, England under the trade mark Cytospec. Another arrangement described in EP 407357 involves a pin fixed with one arm, which moves into and locks with a triangular slot in the other arm when the handles are squeezed together. Such an arrangement, however, only locks in one position and does not enable the user to select the degree of enlargement needed.